What is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Adam Becker is a science journalist with a PhD in astrophysics. He has written for the New York Times, BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, Quanta and many other publications. His first book, What Is Real?, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and was longlisted for the PEN Literary Science Writing Award. He has been a science journalism fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and a science communicator in residence at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. He lives in California.<b>A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science</b> . . . Becker leads us through <b>an impressive account</b> of the rise of competing interpretations, grounding them in the human stories, which are naturally messy and full of contingencies. He makes <b>a convincing case</b> that it's wrong to imagine the Copenhagen interpretation as a single official or even coherent statement
New York Times
<b>[A] fresh debut</b> . . . Vivid biographical portraits enliven even dense theoretical explanations with wit and bite . . . With his crisp voice, Becker lucidly relates the complicated history of quantum foundations
Publishers Weekly, starred review
A useful introduction to the history of quantum theory for scientifically inclined readers
Kirkus
...an impressive account of the rise of competing interpretations, grounding them in the human stories, which are naturally messy and full of contingencies. He makes a convincing case that it's wrong to imagine the Copenhagen interpretation as a single official or even coherent statement.
The New York Times
Becker handles the physics with aplomb... The cast is colourful and expansive, and provides engaging drama... The subtext running through this hugely enjoyable book is that, if we still have a long way to go before we understand reality... The story so far is of dazzling insights, flawed male scientists - and very few female ones. It's a key acknowledgement that should help to ensure that writing the next chapters of the quantum tale is open to all.
- Michael Brooks, The New Scientist
Adam Becker has written an excellent, accessible account of an intricate story.
The Wall Street Journal
What Is Real? is an argument for keeping an open mind. Becker reminds us that we need humility as we investigate the myriad interpretations and narratives that explain the same data.
Nature
Becker has done a great service in putting this fascinating story together into a single easily-digestible volume that is gripping, authoritative, and true.
Quantum Times
[A] tremendously appealing new book ...Becker is a perfect choice to make sense of it all (or at least whatever sense is possible). He smoothly, easily dramatizes the great debates and the outsized personalities of quantum physics and fits it all into an enthusiastic, readable narrative, and along the way he digresses wonderfully on a wide variety of scientific phenomena.
Open Letters Review
Adam Becker sets out to explore why the physics community is still arguing today about quantum mechanics's true meaning...A riveting storyteller, Becker brings to life physicists who have too long remained in the shadow of Bohr and Einstein...an engaging and accessible overview of the debates.
Science Magazine
Spellbinding....This very book could prove to be a watershed moment for the physics community if it faces up to its own past and its present....If you have any interest in the implications of quantum theory, or in the suppression of scientific curiosity, <i>What is Real?</i> is required reading. There is no more reliable, careful, and readable account of the whole history of quantum theory in all its scandalous detail.
Boston Review